Manchester City have no new injury concerns ahead of their Premier League opener versus West Ham on Sunday.
City open their title defence at the London Stadium — where points have not been guaranteed in recent seasons — and go into the game on the back of a Community Shield defeat to Liverpool last weekend. That game, however, was characterised by differing fitness levels in the City and Liverpool teams, so the Blues will likely be in better shape after a solid week of training.
Erling Haaland will be looking to get off the mark in a competitive fixture in the capital, with Julian Alvarez scoring against Liverpool to notch his first City goal. Aymeric Laporte is the only outstanding injury absentee, and elsewhere, a number of youngsters trained on Tuesday, and we've picked out the talking points from footage put out by City:
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Haaland's Pep talk
Erling Haaland likely forgot about his Community Shield miss the moment he got on the team bus at Leicester to return to Manchester, and Guardiola certainly didn't seem too concerned when speaking after the match. In training, it was a boost to see Haaland continue to build up his fitness, and as the players stretched out at one point, Guardiola took Haaland aside and appeared to give the striker some instructions.
Haaland nodded, Guardiola patted him on the neck, and the pair moved on. So whether it was a motivational message, a tactical instruction or a word of warning, fans can be assured that there's plenty of work going on to sharpen the way Haaland works in this City team.
Guardiola speaks to Delap
As the players walked out to training and got familiar with the balls, Liam Delap was one of the first out, and appeared to be pulled to one side by manager Guardiola. The training video shows the pair in conversation, with Delap listening intently, before Guardiola smiles, puts his arm around Delap and sends the young striker on his way.
Delap's future is still the subject of speculation, and he may well yet leave City before the transfer deadline on loan, but as long as he remains at the Etihad, it's clear Guardiola will utilise the youngster in his squad and work on improving his game wherever possible.
Phillips gets a Guardiola hug
The third player to get a one-to-one chat with Guardiola was new signing Kalvin Phillips, who got a big hug from the manager as the players stretched at the start of the session. The midfielder looked in good spirits as he went through the drills, after getting a public vote of confidence from Guardiola after staying on the bench in the Community Shield.
Guardiola says Phillips will play a key role this season, and he backed up his comments by showing some love to the former Leeds man in training ahead of the West Ham trip, while he was also seen embracing Phil Foden as he seemingly went around the squad for personal chats.
Spirits high ahead of West Ham opener
As the outfield players took part in rondo games, one high-intensity group saw Ilkay Gundogan and Phil Foden in the middle as others successfully kept the ball away from them. And with every quick pass, the noise rose and when Gundogan failed to connect with an interception, players fell to the floor in delight — with Gundogan and Foden smiling as they apparently lost that round of their game.
Elsewhere, with Guardiola motivating his players one-on-one, there looked to be plenty of smiles and high spirits ahead of City's Premier League trip to West Ham at the weekend.
Youngsters involved as left-back issue drags on
With City standing firm over their valuation of Marc Cucurella, who may now be bound for Chelsea, and other left-back options being explored, it was a boost to see both Joao Cancelo and Kyle Walker training. They will be relied upon to provide much of City's early-season full-back options, although there will be a chance for Josh Wilson-Esbrand on the left and Rico Lewis on the right to impress as the only other full-backs in the squad.
Both were looking up for the challenge in training, while Cole Palmer looked sharp and Luke Mbete and Kayky were also spotted. However, there was no sign of James McAtee, who is reportedly close to sealing a loan move to Sheffield United.
Full list of players spotted in training: Ederson, Stones, Dias, Ake, Cancelo, Walker, Mbete, Wilson-Esbrand, Lewis, Rodri, De Bruyne, Gundogan, Phillips, Bernardo, Grealish, Mahrez, Foden, Haaland, Alvarez, Delap, Palmer, Kayky.
[Stefan Ortega and Scott Carson were not shown on the training footage, but likely trained away from the main group as usual.]
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